The Friends of Kenyan Orphans Story

Bud and Sue Ozar, the founders of Friends of Kenyan Orphans, have been saving children for over a decade. They started out working as volunteers in Kenya at the Children’s Village, a home for orphaned and abandoned children.

“These children deserve a dignified life, and we believe
it is our mission to rescue and educate them.”
-Sue Ozar

While there they witnessed an alarming and steady increase in the number of girls living on the streets and languishing in villages, who were orphaned and abandoned as a result of HIV, tribal conflict, or forced to run away from abusive homes and female genital mutilation – a practice that is still popular in some areas of the country. These children are targeted and sexually abused by both their older husbands and strangers who take advantage of their situation.

The Ozars returned to their home in Grosse Pointe Park Michigan, dedicated to raise the funds necessary to rescue these ignored children. Friends of Kenyan Orphans rose out of this concern and was registered as a charitable not-for-profit organization in 2009.

Our Work

Friends of Kenyan Orphans' work centers on support for facilities such as The St. Clare Girls’ Centre in Nchiru, Kenya, which houses girls who have escaped from a variety of negative, life-threatening situations. At these facilities, they can live in a safe place with daily meals, schooling, medical attention and personal direction as they develop into confident young women within a nurturing community.

We work directly with the founders of these centers, such as Fr. Francis Limo Riwa, founder of St. Clare, to provide funds that directly support the girls, their education and their transition into adulthood.

Lilian and Fr. Riwa at her redemption ceremony

The work of Fr. Riwa has been recently made world news, as the story of his unprecedented negotiation for the release of a young girl from a tribal marriage, his success in caring for children living with HIV/AIDS, and his decades of work helping street children, orphans and poor nomadic children have been celebrated in articles published in respected publications throughout the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Kenya.

You can help save more girls like Lilian. Your gift will help to save another child.